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Wednesday, October 21, 2009

I found this story offensive on many levels. It contains quite a few evil fnords.

A man conducted an experiment with a helium balloon. He claimed that his son was aboard the balloon. He lost control of the balloon and called the police. In addition to calling the police, he called the local news channel.

There was huge mainstream media coverage of the incident. The police attempted to track down the balloon and rescue the boy.

It turns out that the boy was not on the balloon. He was hiding in his home instead.

Now, the father is accused of fraud and will face criminal charges. There also is speculation that he will be declared an "unfit father", and his child will be forcibly taken from him.

According to Wikipedia, some sources say that the total cost of the police chase of the balloon was $2M.

Either the father intentionally lied to the police, or was incredibly incompetent. It's impossible to prove if he did it on purpose or was merely stupid.

It's possible that the father intended for his son to be on the balloon. The son hid because he didn't want to do it.

The father should have taken proper safety precautions. If you're conducting a helium balloon experiment, you have an obligation to make sure it doesn't get out of control.

The mainstream media overreacted to the incident. It isn't the father's fault that the mainstream media was fooled into giving him lots of free publicity.

When there is an emergency, there is no choice but to turn to the State police for help. The State police have a monopoly. When the mainstream media covers the police helping someone, that's an evil fnord saying "Hooray for the State! The State police are helping someone!" The police sometimes help people. The fact that police sometimes do good things does not justify their violence monopoly.

Then, it was exposed as a fraud. This unraveled the evil fnord "Hooray for the State!" Instead, it was obvious that a lot of time and money were wasted. Instead of saying "We're stupid for being fooled!", the father is then blamed. "The father is a criminal and should be sent to jail!" is an evil fnord that distracts from the other mainstream media propaganda.

Does it make sense to send the father to jail? No. He was incompetent. He didn't injure anyone. He isn't a risk for injuring someone in the future.

Does the father owe compensation to the police for time and money wasted? Yes. The figure of $2M sounds a bit high; State police have a lot of waste and inefficiency. The father should be fined for wasting money. Sending him to jail is extreme.

This is the fallacy of punishment-based justice instead of compensation-based justice. "The father must be jailed for making us seem to be idiots!" is the wrong answer. The correct answer is "The father owes compensation for wasted resources. Sending an otherwise productive person to jail is wasteful."

How would free market police handle this? If the father conducted something potentially dangerous, like a hot air balloon experiment, he would be required to notify his police/insurance protection agency first. Then, they would make sure he took proper safety precautions. If necessary, they would increase the fee charged for helping him. If the father did something dangerous without notifying the police in advance, then they have no obligation to help him if something bad happens. Their contract probably specifies that they would help him anyway, but then he owes compensation plus a fine.

The entire incident is a series of evil fnords.

The mainstream media coverage of the police helping the father promotes the State police monopoly.

Instead of saying "We were fooled! We're so gullible!", the mainstream media blames the father. The individual is blamed rather than a corrupt system.

If the "balloon boy" story was a heavily-hyped lie, then maybe other things you see on TV are a lie. For this reason, the father must be punished.

"The father must be punished for lying!" promotes punishment-based justice instead of compensation-based justice.

"Send an otherwise productive person to jail!" reinforces the need to jail people for "victimless" crimes. Even if the father is ultimately acquitted, he will waste a lot of time and money and stress defending himself.

People who perform science without a State license are evil. The problem is that the man was an idiot, and not that more government regulations are needed.

People should try to exploit the mainstream media cartel for free publicity, rather than doing something useful.

Sensational news stories like this detract from important events, like fake healthcare reform, the declining economy, or the declining US dollar.

Whenever you see a heavily-hyped new story, you should ask "How does this 'news' pro-State troll?"

1 comment:

CorkyAgain
said...

"Whenever you see a heavily-hyped new story, you should ask "How does this 'news' pro-State troll?""

You should also ask, what OTHER story do they want us not to notice?

The State/MSM often uses stories like this one to perform a kind of sleight-of-hand: while we're all watching the balloon boy story, our Nobel Peace Prize winner sends in assassins to take out the Iranian leadership. Or was there something even more heinous that they don't want us to see?

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The school of "Austrian Economics" advocates credit-based money instead of debt-based money. There are two separate websites, www.mises.org and www.mises.net. These philosophies are a precursor to agorism. However, they still hold out false hope that the people who control the government can be convinced to switch to a fair monetary system. They fall short of the correct conclusion that government itself is the problem.

The Mises and Austrian school is still a pro-State theory of economics. They say "government should adopt a sound monetary policy instead of an unsound monetary policy". They fall short of the truth, which is "Who needs a government?"

Agorism and Anarcho-Capitalism

The primary source most commonly cited is agorism.info. Agorism.info has good introductory material, but I'm already looking for more advanced topics. I also found TOLFA interesting. The Molinari Institute has a lot of interesting links.

The source with the most advanced material on agorism is Kevin Carson's The Mutualist Blog.

This link on the History of Money has a lot of interesting bits on how bankers have controlled the world's money supply for hundreds of years or longer. Unlike most other sources, it is very short and to the point. However, their recommended solution falls short of true agorism.

Freedomain is another good read. He doesn't update his blog often, but he has a lot of good stuff posted in the past.

Kevin Carson's Mutualist Blog - This is a great source. He is tough to read at times, but his content is great. He's the best source on agorism I've seen. I like to take his topics and present them in simpler language. He updates his blog sporadically, but he has a lot of great content. It's also worth reading his other books and articles, which are available from his mutualist.org website. I also like the way Kevin Carson frequently links back to his favorite older posts. Kevin Carson's Shared Items is also worth reading; it's a list of posts from other blogs that he finds interesting.

Kung-Fu Monkey. This blog is written by someone who works as a writer in the entertainment industry, which explains the high quality of writing. He sounds like a closet agorist, although he hasn't specifically mentioned that philosophy. This post on the Extrapolated Everyday Bull**** Comparison has promoted Kung-Fu Monkey from my hitlist to my "read regularly" list.

Redpillguy's Blog - His blog is relatively new, so it's hard to judge. He doesn't really update his blog that often. On the other hand, he frequently cites my content, and that's certainly the sort of thing I appreciate.

Tranarchism is another new blog. It's too soon to judge the content. On the other hand, anyone who heavily cites my stuff can't be all bad. It's too infrequently updated.

Wally Conger's Blog is another good read. However, he really has two separate blogs mixed together. He has a lot of good stuff on agorism and libertarianism. However, he also likes to talk about his favorite movies and TV shows a lot.

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Bill Rempel - He talks about finance and trading. He really dislikes the Federal Reserve. I'm not sure if he's come all the way to agorism yet, but perhaps he can be coaxed. He's guilty of my #1 blog pet peeve: A PARTIAL RSS FEED!

Bored Zhwazi - Has some nice content, but it really isn't updated that often. It's worth checking back once every month or two.